Self-opening bucket



c. NOLAN. sm OPENING BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1920. 1,400,903, Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET i.

o-lj 1:; I W

30 I a i j r c. NOLAN. SELF OPENING BUCKET.

APPLXCATION FILED JUNE H, 1920.

Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z CLYDE NOLAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN'OR TO AMERICAN STEAM CONVEYOR CORPORATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLENOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SELF-OPENING BUCKET.

llAOtLElOS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntgd Deg 21} 1921 Application filed June 11, 1920. Serial No. 388,352.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, CLYDE NOLAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Self-Opening Buckets, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a bucket capable of being employed in trolley carrier systems and the object of my invention is to provide a bucket of this class which, when lowered to the ground, bottom of a bin, or upon a pile where its contents are to be dumped, will so adjust itself that when the bucket is subsequently raised the doors thereof fall open and permit the material contained in the bucket to be discharged therefrom, the doors-being arranged to assume their normal closed positions after the contents of the buckets have been discharged therefrom.

The combination and construction of parts whereby I attain the objects of my invention will be best understood by reading the description to follow in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevational view lllHS trating the improved bucket of my inven tion together with the trolley mechanism and the cables wherewith the trolley is moved upon its track and the bucket raised and lowered as required. I

I Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bucket illustrating the hinged bottom doors of the bucket in open position.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of one of the friction devices which are interposed be tween the bucket and its associated bail, or bucket carrier, and

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Similar characters of reference refer to 2-2 has each end thereof connected by means of a non-rigid link 5 with one end of .at 8. It will be noted that each of the equalizing bars 6 is connected with both of the doors. The non-rigid link 5 is preferably 1n the form of a chain or in the form of a section of wire cable as shown in the drawing.

The vertical legs of the U-shaped bail, or bucket carrier, 8, are embraced by metal straps 9 and 10. These straps lie around the vertical portions of the bail, and have their ends bolted or riveted to the sides of the bucket. It will thus be seen that the bail is capable of acertain amount of vertical movement independently of the bucket. At its central portion, the top bar of the U-shaped bail is provided with brackets 1111, to which is pivoted the sheave 12 with which cooperates the cable 13 by means of which the bucket is raised toward or lowered from the trolley 14, carried by the track 15. The cable 13 passes over sheaves 16 and 17 carried by the trolley 14:- Movement of the trolley 1% upon its track 15 is effected and controlled by the cable, or cables, 18. The details of the trolley mechanism with which the bucket of my invention may be used constitute no part of'my presentinvention. It will be understood that the bucket, after being filled with the material to be carried, is elevatedby manipulating the cable 13 to shorten the loop which falls below the sheaves 16 and 17. The bucket is carried to a position over the point where its contents are to be dumped by moving the trolley 14 upon its track 15, and the bucket is lowered so that it restsupon the ground, the bottom of the bin, or upon a dump pile, as the case may be, by manipulating the cable 13 to lengthen the loop thereof which cooperates with the bucket sheave 12.

It will be understood tiatnormally the weight of the bucket v1, and the weight of the material contained within the bucket, are carried by the doors 2-2 the lifting force being exerted upon the doors through sheave 12, bail 8, equalizing doors 6-6 and flexible links 5-5.

interposed between each vertical leg of the bail and a fixed portion of the bucket is a novel friction device, one of which is illustrated in detail in Figs. 3 and 4:. As these devices are alike in all particulars, it will sufiice to describe but one of the same.

Referring now to Fig. 1, I will call attention to the fact that pivoted to the bail 8 is an arm 19, and pivoted to a fixed portion of the bucket, conveniently the strap 9, is a somewhat similar arm 20. That end of the arm 20 which is not pivoted to the strap 9 is provided with a hollow frusto-conical boss 21. Disposed upon the boss 21 is a cap 22 which is held tightly in frictional engagement with the boss 21 by a comparatively heavy spring 23. The spring 23 acts between the boss 21 and a washer carried upon one end of a bolt 241-, the other end of which passes freely through registering apertures in boss 21 and cap 22, and is provided with a nut 25 held against the cap 22 by spring 23. It will be understood, of course, that the outer surface of the boss 21 and the inner surface of the cap 22 may, if desired, be provided with any suitable friction material if that be deemed necessary or desirable. Formed integral with, or

otherwise rigidly secured to the cap 22 is a -Arm 19 is conveniently provided with a guard 30 which incloses the ratchet 26 and pawl 27. This guard is shown in full lines in Figs. 1, 2 and 1, and is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. 1 7

From the above description, it will be understood that the arm 19 is capable of movin freely in a clockwise direction (Fig. 3), in ependently of the friction cap 22 and the arm 20. During such movement the pawl 27 merely ratchets over the teeth of the ratchet 26. However, when the arm 19 is moved in a counter-clockwise direction around the same axis, the pawl 27, due to its engagement with one of the teeth of the ratchet 26, prevents movement of the arm '19 independently of the friction cap 22.

Naturally movement of the friction cap around the boss 21 is braked by the spring 23, which holds the inner-surface of the cap 22 tightly in frictional engagement with the outer surface of the boss 21.

Before considering how the bucket of my invention functions to permit the doors thereof to open to discharge the material therefrom, and subsequently close, let us consider that the bucket as shown in Fig. 1

is loaded and has been carried to a position over the point where its contents are to be discharged. The bucket is lowered to the ground, bottom of the bin, or to the top of the coal or other pile, as the case may be, by manipulating the lifting cable 13 to enlarge the loop thereof Which cooperates with the sheave 12. As soon as the bucket rests upon the ground, bottom of the bin, or the top of the pile, after which the cable 13 becomes slack, the bail 8 moves downwardly independently of the bucket due to the weight of the bail and the weight of the sheave 12. Downward imovement of the bail independent of the bucket is not opposed by the friction devices because in this case the pawls 27 ratchet over their respective ratchets 26. It will be understood that after the bail has moved downwardly inclependently of the bucket the several links 5-5 which connect the doors with the bail 8 become slack. Now let us assume that the lifting cable 13 is manipulated to raise the 85 bucket. The lifting force is, of course, ap-

plied to the bail 8 through the sheave 12.

Upward movement of the bail 8 independent of'the bucket is braked by the friction devices with the result that the bucket is lifted with its doors open. The friction devices are so adjusted with reference to the nature and area of their friction surfaces and the tension of their respective springs that after the contents of the bucket have been discharged therefrom the arms of the friction devices are drawn together, as shown in Fig. 1, therebypermitting the doors to close and again placing the'weight of the bucket upon the doors as has been previously explained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A bucket of the class described provided with hinged bottom'doors, a bucket carrier capable of a limited amount of vertical movement independent of the bucket, nonrigid means connecting said carrier and doors, whereby the latter are held closed when the carrier lies in the highest position to which it may be moved independent of the bucket, and means interposed between the carrier and bucket to permit free movement of the carrier relative to the bucket in one direction and impeded movement in the. opposite direction, said means consisting of a pair of friction devices disposed on opposite sides of said bucket, said devices comprising a pair of arms pivoted respectively at one end tothe carrier and tothe bucket, the free end of one of said arms havinga frustoconical shaped boss over which the open free end of the other of said arms is arranged to lie, a cap frictionally engaging said boss and the last mentioned arm, a ratchet on said cap, and a detent mechanism therefor carried by said last mentioned arm.

2. A bucket capable of dumping its contents, a carrier capable of a limited amount of movement independent of the bucket, and

means interposed between said carrier and bucket to permit free movement of the carrier relative to the bucket in one direction and impeded movement in the opposite direction, said means consisting of a pair of friction devices disposed on opposite sides of said bucket, said devices comprising use exp, 0; pus euo e peaonrd sums go mad e rier and to the bucket respectively, the oppoe site end of one of said arms having a boss provided thereon over which the open free end of the other of said arms is arranged to lie, a cap for said boss arranged to frictionally engage the last mentioned arm, a atchet on said cap, and a detent mechanism therefor carried by said last mentioned arm.

3. A bucket of the class described provided with hinged bottom doors, a bucket carrier capable of a limited amount of vertical tion devices disposed on opposite sides of said bucket.

4. A bucket capable of dumping its contents, a carrier adapted to support said bucket and capable of moving relatively thereto to cause the same to discharge its contents, said carrier comprising automatic means to permit the bucket to discharge comparatively freely and to permit but frictionally impede return movement of the bucket to its loading position.

5. A bucket capable of dumping its contents, a carrier therefor having a lost-motion connection therewith, said connection comprising a pair of arms joined at one end to the carrier and the bucket respectively and being pivotally connected at the opposite end, means in said connection to permit free movement of the carrier relative to the bucket When discharging the contents thereof and to impede movement of the carrier relative to the bucket as the bucket returns to its loading position.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name.

CLYDE NOLAN. Witnesses MARION WARDELL, EDWIN M. WOLF. 

